Jake Henry aims for impact at Edinburgh after indulging his artistic side with boot design side hustle

While he would rather have been painting pictures on the pitch, Henry used the enforced absences to customise footwear for the likes of Adam Hastings.

He said the creative process was “good for the head” during some difficult times. Happily, the highly regarded Henry was able to make his long-awaited Edinburgh debut last weekend and although he wasn’t able to mark the occasion with a win, he did score a try against the Stormers in Cape Town.

Now 23, Henry seems to have been on the brink of breaking through for some time only to be thwarted by misfortune. He used to share a flat with Rory Darge and could be forgiven for casting an envious glance towards his former ‘roomie’ who left for Glasgow in 2021 and is now co-captain of Scotland.

Henry, who grew up in Dingwall and came through the ranks at Highland, snapped his left Achilles tendon during the pre-season of 2020-21 having just moved to Edinburgh. He battled through 11 months of rehab and was the star turn in the Southern Knights side which reached the final of the Super6 the following season. He caught the eye of Scotland Sevens coach Ciaran Beattie and was called up for a couple of tournaments in Spain and then the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Unfortunately for Henry, he endured another long-term injury when he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in training. It was a long road back but rehabbing alongside the other Edinburgh ‘crocks’ helped.

“It’s been tough, definitely,” said the Scotland U20 international who hopes to be involved again this Saturday when Edinburgh play the Sharks in Durban. “The injuries I unluckily got have been quite taxing on the body. But being in that grafters group, just trying to get myself back fit, probably helped with the resilience to get back to this moment.”

The long road to recovery at least afforded him the opportunity to work on his boot design, which proved therapeutic as well as artistically fulfilling.

“While I was out I customised a couple of boots - and I was wearing some last week,” he said. “That has been pretty good for the head when I was missing out on all the stuff that I love doing. It kept me busy and helped a lot.

“I take a boot, I’ll draft up a wee design and then I’ll start putting it down on to the boot. Then I take the factory finish off the boot, put on my design and then put a protective finish over that.

“I did a pair for Adam Hastings, a Gloucester-themed boot for him. He was probably the last person I did something for, when I had more free time then. But at the moment I’ve not done many other people’s, so I just mess around with my own boots.

“It’s always been something that I quite like doing. And then this injury gave me more opportunity to do more with it. It was something I did just to pass time, but with this it would be a good one to keep my head at ease.”